CORE Autosport could only finish fourteenth in the GT Daytona class at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, with the #54 Flexbox/Composite Resources Porsche 911 GT3 R entry struggling with their pace, particularly in dry conditions.
The early stages saw Jon Bennett run at the rear of the field after the team changed their tyres before the start, but a lack of caution periods during his stint meant he was still at the back when he handed the car to team-mate Colin Braun.
“I’m happy with my stint, and I’m especially happy with Colin’s performance and the team’s performance,” said Bennett. “This is a notoriously tough event, and even more so with back-to-back race weekends.
“We’re trying to catch up with the performance of the other manufacturers in our class. I am hopeful that things will change at Lime Rock, and I am looking forward to the balance of the season.”
Braun was able to use the mixed conditions of his stint, coupled with a caution period to move up to fourteenth, with the American driver using slick tyres in damp conditions, but it was still not enough to fight at the front of the field, and he was downbeat that the team did not have the same kind of performance as the other manufacturers in Canada.
“It was just one of those days,” said Braun. “We didn’t have the performance of the other manufacturers, but we did a good job and did all we could with what we had. Sometimes that is how it goes.
“It was a tough call to decide whether to put on rain tyres or slicks. The guys made the right call, even though I thought at the time I needed rain tyres. The conditions were sketchy and different teams were taking different strategies, which made it fun for a few laps.
“I wish it had rained more because maybe that would have changed things up and we would have had a chance to do something different. However, it dried up pretty quickly and we were back to a dry pace.”
